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Guest: Michael Belfiore. Topics: Current events for space topics, selection of Dragon & CST100, 3D printing in space, lots more. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

We welcomed Michael Belfiore back to the show to discuss a variety of space news and current events items, plus trends in the industry. During the first segment of our 1 hour 41 minute program, Michael talked about DARPA given his recent book on the agency, then we turned to the recent commercial crew down select NASA announcement naming the Boeing CST100 and SpaceX Dragon as the two companies that NASA will continue supporting for commercial crew. We spent lots of time talking about Boeing and SpaceX plus everyone was wondering if Sierra Nevada and Dream Chaser would find a way to stay in the game. The next topic was the Google Lunar X Prize challenge. Michael pointed out that a government had gotten to the Moon fist with a rover, the Chinese, thus the rules of the contest were changed to allow the contest to continue. Marshall called to talk about the down select process and winners. SLS John called to tell us that he thought Dream Chaser and SpaceX would be the winners. He and others suggested Boeing was the conservative choice. He also asked about the news that a Boeing-Bezos deal was in the making for the new American made RD180 engine replacement. Michael suggested throughout our discussion that the old guard or the traditional aerospace industry and participants were under lots of pressure from NewSpace.

In the second segment, we took a call from Doug who commented on the down select process. Michael then talked about the Tesla deal for Nevada and their proposed gigafactory for electric car batteries. We talked about electric cars in general, then Tim called to suggest a conversion kit for conventional autos to turn them into electric cars. I questioned that from a market perspective. Michael then introduced space manifesting and we talked about the 3D printer on the way to the ISS. Michael mentioned Maven which was to be inserted into Mars orbit Sunday evening, 9:37 EDT. News update: Maven’s orbital insertion was a big success! Congrats to NASA and the entire Maven team. We also talked about Comet Siding Spring, Suborbital flights came up and we heard Michael express concerns about Virgin Galactic & confidence with the Lynx and XCOR. He talked about the early spaceflight participants and the risks they would be taking. Visit his website, http://www.michaelbelfiore.com. You can also subscribe to his email newsletter and join him on social media, all through his website.

Please post comments/questions on TSS blog above. You can reach Michael through his website or me.

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Guest: Patrick Ritchie. Subject: South by Southwest event in Austin, TX and the space & science event components. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See http://www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm. For those listening to archives using live365.com and rating the programs, please email me as to why you assign a specific rating to the show. This will help me bring better programming to the audience.

In the second segment, we talked about Austin’s similarities to Silicon Valley, venture capital, innovation and the Austin culture, the University of Texas role in these areas, and the overall space awareness level of the Austin technology area plus the general population. Listeners asked our guest about the Brownsville SpaceX spaceport proposal as well as their rocket testing site and the Blue Origins Texas location. Tony called in regarding the talk by Elon Musk. Patrick even got a question about the new Texas football coach! More was said about the gaming part of the event and the Kerbal Space game. We then talked about the Las Vegas SXSW V2V for start-ups and innovative businesses. As the program was ending, Patrick fielded questions about Canadians and the Canadian Space Program.

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Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Charles Lurio, Dr. David Livingston. Topics: Google Lunar X Prize, ISS, Cubesats, Planet Labs, Swiss Space. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm). For those of you listening to archives on live365.com & rating the programs, please email me the reasons for your rating. This will definitely help improve Space Show programming. Thank you.

We welcomed Dr. Charles Lurio of The Lurio Report to the program to discuss the Google Lunar X Prize selection of five teams in the competition to designed to recognize team technical accomplishments plus to funnel more money to the teams for R&D. John asked Charles many questions about the contest, if the robots represented advanced technology, and more. We also talks about Swiss Space partnering with two Russian companies regarding their engine, then we talked about Planet Labs launching cubesats from the ISS with more to follow.

Please post any comments/questions you might have on The Space Show blog. You can contact any of us through drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Bob Richards, Dr. David Livingston: Topics: Moon Express, the Google Lunar X-Prize, Lunar resource development. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce. This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com. Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm).

During our 11 minute plus discussion, John, Dr. Bob Richards and I talked about Moon Express, the Google Lunar X-Prize competition, lunar water and resources, lunar commercial development, and the overall Moon Express plan of action which involves much more than winning the Google Lunar X-Prize competition. We talked about why the lunar southern hemisphere, south pole water, and even their planned sample return mission scheduled for around 2020.

Please post any comments/questions you might have on The Space Show blog. You can contact any of us through drspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Michael Paul. Topics: The Penn State Google Lunar X Prize entry, the Lunar Lion. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed Michael Paul to the program, the leader of the Penn State Google Lunar X Prize team, the Lunar Lion. For more information, visit their team website, http://lunarlion.psu.edu. Michael brings to the table his experience with NASA and the Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins as he was the spacecraft systems engineer for the NASA Messenger mission. During the first segment of our 95 minute program, Michael talked about the Lunar Lion project. We discussed launch contracts and vehicles, secondary payloads, landing sites, hoppers as opposed to rovers, and what happens to the hardware at the end of the mission. We talked about the Penn State students working on the project and listeners and I asked questions about his experiences on Messenger being applied to a GLXP project. The listeners seemed to think this was a step or two down but listen to how Michael explained lessons learned and applications to the Lunar Lion project. We also talked about funding for their project and that if they win, the money goes to Penn State to endow further space related research and students. We also had a treat in the first segment in that Michael’s 10 year old son was with him. We invited him to the program and it appears we may have a future space guru in the making!

In the second segment, we talked about space education and general audience space enthusiasm and awareness given Michael’s public talks. He had some interesting comments and experiences to share with us. We also talked about potential regulations adversely impacting their mission, sample returns, lunar activities and such. Charles called to talk about up and downstream communications and the use of lasers. Spacecraft quality control was another issue along with the development of commercial tools for a much broader application than the Penn State GLXP entry. He also mentioned efficiency in spacecraft design and management but used the term, “a frugal approach.” He explained the difference between frugal and efficiency in terms of spacecraft design & management. As our program ended, we talked about thermal protection, radiation hardening, film and space subjects and topics. Our final topic was oversight and 3rd party eyes on their project for review & quality control.

Post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog. You can email our guest through the Lunar Lion website or derspace@thespaceshow.com.

Guest: Yonatan Winetraub. Topics: SpaceIL Google Lunar X-Prize, secondary payload launches. Please direct all comments and questions regarding Space Show programs/guest(s) to the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information.

We welcomed Yonatan Winetraub as our guest to discuss SpaceIL, Israel’s Google Lunar X-Prize entry. Mr. Winetraub founded SpaceIL through an interesting set of experiences and conversations at a local Israeli establishment. He tells us this interesting story as we begin our one hour discussion. At age 26, Yonatan proves that much can be done with passion, commitment, education, volunteers, and local industry support. During our discussion, Yonatan told us about the SpaceIL plans, the lunar hopper that they will land on the Moon, and their process in procuring a secondary launch contract for the launch capable of putting their lander on a trajectory to the Moon and landing in time to win the Google Lunar X-Prize contest. One issue we discussed in detail was the fact that their secondary payload would have propulsion on board making it challenging to be approved as a secondary payload by the primary payload on the launcher. In fact, Charles both emailed and called at the end of the program to raise the propellant issue for secondary payloads. SpaceIL as a nonprofit, is also engaged in STEM and education outreach in Israel and this too was a significant part of our discussion. Yonatan got questions about commercial space and space attitudes in Israel and the treatment of their venture by the Israeli general public and press, both in Israel and internationally. The Google Lunar X-Prize competition was discussed as well as their funding and plans for after the contest ends. Given that SpaceIL is consulting with American companies, we talked about our ITAR laws as well as the Israeli ITAR laws and regulations. The SpaceIL website is www.spaceil.com and I urge you to follow along on the site while listening to this discussion.

If you have comments/questions for Yonatan Winetraub, please post them on the blog and I will call them to his attention. You can also email him through drspace@thespaceshow.com. We will certainly be talking with Yonatan again as they progress in the competition.

Guest: Tim Pickens. Topics: Pickens Innovations, commercial space, space economics & policy. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Tim Pickens back to the program to tell us about his new company Pickens Innovations. As Tim explained, he has left Dynetics and formed his own consulting business. Learn more about his new consultancy and activities by visiting www.timpickens.com. We started our discussion by my asking Tim about some of the comments I made yesterday in a USA Today telephone interview regarding commercial/private space development. Since I forgot to record the interview (something I have learned to do for my own protection given edit rights are seldom permitted re the articles or programs), I bounced some of my comments off Tim to see if I was drinking my own Kool Aid about the state of the private space industry, its potential, the positive changes I see happening, and more. Tim confirmed that I was on the right track so now I await the USA Today article. In the process of this discussion, Tim had much to say about the emerging commercial space industry, the companies involved, the economics and the markets. We talked about how things have changed for the better over time and in recent years. I then asked Tim about Rocket City Space Pioneers, his Google Lunar X Prize entry, for which he remains the team leader. Tim was quite frank in discussing the program with us, the Google Lunar X Prize in general & many of the critical issues facing the contest & all the contestants. Do listen carefully to what he said as it goes right to the heart of issues facing the broader commercial & private space development efforts/industry. Part of our discussion focused on the value chain available for sustainable lunar business, the problems with ride sharing at this time to the Moon and much more. We also talked about essential time lines for the contest. He said many times that affordable systems were needed, viable and sustainable business models were needed, and he was thinking about a merger or joint venture with other contestants to make it happen. Tim fielded many questions about his new consultancy, Pickens Innovations. We learned that he was getting involved in other areas than space, specifically medical devices. He described two such devices and why his company was pursuing their development. How about market size and potential as compared to space? In fact, cash flow & revenue from these successful non-space businesses are expected to fund many of his space development activities. Also in this segment, our guest talked about space hardware issues.

In the second segment, he defined the Man Cave which he talks about on his website. Tim responded to a listener question about the potential of a Netscape Moment re investing in space businesses, plus he talked about the need to have more fun and be less nerdy, referencing conference presentations and similar things space people engage in from time to time. As an example, he cited the Big Bang Theory TV show and a new show about to start, Top Engineer. Later, we talked about SLS and its future, its mission, and its likelihood of being funded to completion. Suborbital space and vehicle issues were a discussion topic followed by Tim talking about the Space & Missile Defense Conference in Huntsville (www.udreg.com/SMD) later this month. His closing comments were positive & upbeat for our future, especially by using disruptive technologies which he talked about at great length throughout the interview.

Guest: Charles Pooley. Topics: Microlaunchers, LLC, focusing on the means to achieve space development, not the end result, and his action plans for launching microlaunchers. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed Charles Pooley back to the program to discuss his Microlaunchers concept in detail. You can follow along and learn more about the program from visiting www.microlaunchers.com. Charles started the discussion with his comments on the NANOSAT Challenge and the logo design winner. From there, he directed us to his website and began talking about the initial project, the ML-1 launcher. Charles spent most of the first segment talking about his Microlauncher plans. Callers asked him about the technology, RC airplanes, liquid fuel motors, amateur launches, FAA AST rules, his three stage design, and even his having wanted to use irrigation tubing for his launchers. I asked Charles for his time line for getting Microlaunchers off the ground and he talked about this on and off for the entire discussion. Funding idea were tossed around, including the use of crowd sourcing and Kickstarter. The Small Sat Conference came up with lots of pressure on Charles to attend. Guidance systems and ITAR came up and there was more discussion about FAA AST launch rules, range fees and tracking.

In our second segment, a listener called in to suggest that Charles start writing articles for The Space Review and use social media including Facebook and Twitter. A listener asked about tracking and data collection for his rockets, and more comments came in directing Charles to learn & start using Twitter to help get the word out about his ideas. I then asked Charles to give us his step by step action plan. In response, he outlined the first four or five steps of his plan. Charles got more feedback for the usage of Twitter & social media and then Charles took us through ML-1 through ML-3. Near the end of the show, Charles was asked about Google Lunar X Prize as compared to his model. He had much to say about this comparison. We talked about N-Prize and Charles offered us a good summary of the Microlaunchers concept for his closing comments.

Please post your questions/comments on The Space Show blog. You can email Charles at ckpooley@microlaunchers.com Follow him on Twitter at Charles Pooley@microlaunchers.

Guest: Jim Muncy. Topics: Space policy, COTS, SpaceX, Commercial Crew and more. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Jim Muncy to discuss space policy in light of the very successful COTS flight by SpaceX with their Falcon 9 rocket and the Dragon capsule. During our fist segment, we talked about this COTS flight, the berthing with the ISS and what this might mean for the COTS program, space policy and funding issues, and commercial crew. Jim had much to say covering many aspects of our policy and budget concerns, plus NASA policy now and what we hope for in the future. We talked about challenges ahead, members of congress, resistance points, and human safety. Toward the end of the first segment, we asked Jim about the confidence level in the mission before and during it and if either Jim or others were surprised by the outcome. This is an interesting discussion, don’t miss it. As our segment ended, we were addressing HSF safety issues, NASA oversight and contracting methods.

In our second segment, we talked about ULA and human rating the Atlas and Delta rockets. We then discussed using the successful COTS model being used to move commercial crew forward. We again discussed down selecting as a possible result of congressional funding action/policy as opposed to the process currently in place that will eventually allow NASA to pick the program from all the contenders – the one NASA thinks may be best. Markets for HSF beyond the life of the ISS were discussed in detail and we had more to say on crew safety on the HSF rockets under development. Another issue talked about was the public option for launch vehicles that some policy people support and how to be an advocate with the most impact on our members of congress regarding space issues. I asked about the impact on space policy & programs given our national and global economic issues. In short, don’t expect more funding for NASA & space which leads us to now more than ever having alternative means of financing space missions. Commercial space programs & partnerships clearly provide an important & needed alternative. Toward the end, a caller brought up the Romney Space Advisory Committee. Jim suggested that things will change & not to assume anything as final at this point in time. He hoped that we had a good national debate in the coming campaign as to just what our space policy should be for the future.

If you have comments/questions, please post them on The Space Show blog. If you want to email Mr. Muncy, you can do so through me.

Guests: Randa and Rod Milliron; Olav Zipser. Topics: Interorbital Systems update, Olav Zipser & freeflying rocket ejection. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, https://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Randa and Rod Milliron for updates with their company, Interorbital Systems (IOS). Visit their website at http://interorbital.com. During our first hour long segment, our guests provided us with a current overview of IOS, their rockets and their static and flight testing upcoming program. We talked about their sea launch plans, their rocket fuel which is white fuming nitric acid with turpentine/furfuryl alcohol, and their TubeSat and newly added CubeSat personal satellite kits available on their website. We learned more about their modular rocket plans along with both suborbital and orbital plans for the company. Listeners asked lots of questions about their modular rocket system, ocean launch, their choice of fuel, and the high altitude jump from their rocket planned by Olav Zipser. In the last segment of the program, Olav joined us for a detailed discussion about his plans so more about that later in this summary. We talked about the personal satellite kits and I asked if they were user friendly in terms of building them. As we learned, they do require expertise and thus are a terrific learning tool for students as well as others, crossing over many disciplines from soldering to software programming. If you or a group are interested in these kits, contact Randa/Rod for more information through their website. Some listeners asked our guests technical questions about their guidance system plans and their rocket pressure fed system.

In the second segment, Olav Zipser joined us. For more information about Olav and his freeflying astronaut program which he created, visit his website at www.freeflyastronaut.com. His freeflying program which he invented for skydiving allows him to use his body as a type of “lifting body” (he cannot go up) in that he can change his positions, movements, angles, etc. to actually “fly” during his skydive. For jumping from the IOS rocket at about 40 KM (25 miles), he intends to practice the jumps from various altitudes working up to his main jump altitude in which he hopes to break the record set by Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger decades ago. Olav fielded several questions about how he intended to exit from the rocket, stabilize himself against spin, handle human supersonic flight including going into and out of supersonic flight. Olav had much to say about the need for a custom designed space suit to allow him to safely do his jump. He also explained why he was working with the Russians on this space suit design. As you will hear, flexibility is crucial to the type of space suit he requires for this jump. At the end of our discussion, Olav said that his suit design and what he learns from his jump should allow a safe emergency crew exit even for an unconscious person, giving the person a fighting chance for survival. Our program ended with a brief summary of thoughts offered by Randa and Ron, their plans to attend the CubeSat workshop which is part of SmallSat each year, plus they left us with a worthy closing statement you will want to hear.